UltraTech sees 5-6% volume growth in FY18

The thrust on infrastructure is increasing, with the pace gaining in the roads and highways space along with irrigation projects, water supply and water management projectsPTI | April 29, 2017, 07:57 IST

MUMBAI: Market leader UltraTech Cement expects 5-6% growth in demand in fiscal 2018 and is hopeful of completing the Jaypee Cement deal over the four to six weeks, a top company official said on Friday.

"We expect 5-6 per cent growth in cement demand this year. Government is putting a lot of thrust on infrastructure. In the coming years, infrastructure and low cost housing will be the biggest demand drivers for cement," UltraTech Cement managing director KK Maheshwari told .

The thrust on infrastructure is increasing, with the pace gaining in the roads and highways space along with irrigation projects, water supply and water management projects. These themes in the broad infrastructure space are likely to play out well in the coming years, Maheshwari said, adding that cement consumption in low-cost housing segment has gone up by 40 per cent to 20 million tonnes.

On the acquisition of JP Cement, he said the deal is likely to be completed in the next four to six weeks.

"Jaiprakash Associates last month received an approval of National Company Law Tribunal for transfer of its cement plants to Ultratech. Following all the approvals, we hope to close the deal over the next four to six weeks, depending on how fast the work progresses," Maheswari said.

JP Associates had last year announced the sale of its cement business to the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Ultratech for around Rs 16,000 crore, marking the biggest consolidation in the cement sector.

Commenting on the steep increase in cement prices, Maheswari said that if we looked at price movements in the past 10 years, it has gone up only one-third compared to the inflation.

On the sales performance of UltraTech, he said the industry has been de-growing for some time and as such there is little scope for volume growth now. But, we have clocked healthy volume growth of 18 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.